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(click on the Eastgate Clock for details, email us or phone 01244 345099)
Contribute to it by sending us your reminisciences, stories and photographs.
Our readers believe this is already the finest of Chester's websites- help us make it better!

Wherever you are in the world, we warmly welcome you to...

Chester: A Virtual Stroll Around the Walls

What's New?

2nd July 2009: Some new material on the history of the Chester Canal has just been added here.

12th May 2009: I've written for years about the lost theatres, cinemas and pubs of Chester. I am now planning a new feature on the city's gone-but-not-forgotten nightclubs and live music venues. Having only lived here a mere 20 years, I'm a bit short on personal experience but would be most grateful if those of you who watched legendary rock acts or boogied on down at Quaintways (for example) could email me / phone me (345099) / meet me for a pint- with your reminisciences for inclusion. Photographs and old advertisments- should they still exist- would be wonderful too. Full credit will always be given, of course! Many thanks!

May 2009: New illustrations have been added throughout the site and many more links to further reading have been added to our 'Curiousities from Chester's History' selections at the bottom of each of the main pages. A growing gallery of images of the discovery, excavation and exhibition of the Chester Roman Amphitheatre has been added here. New material has been added to our Memories of the Royalty Theatre, several new additions have been made to the Old Maps of Chester section, which was updated again 1st May 2009. A new gallery of photographs of notable burials in Chester's Overleigh Cemetery has been added here and new material plus a growing gallery of photographs has been added to the Vanished Pubs of Chester pages (As with the rest of the site, your contributions and reminisciences are urgently sought and very welcome!) A first version of our Virtual Stroll Around Hoole is now online, including our new Hoole Business Directory. Numerous other additions have recently been made throughout the site. Courtesy of Google, we have provided a scrollable and zoomable satellite view of Chester on our Route Map page.

Whether resident or visitor- real or virtual- if you enjoy this online stroll around our beautiful city, consider joining us on one of our year-round real Chester Guided Walks..
"Having myself received training as a guide at a World Heritage site in Kingston, Canada, I was recently privileged to participate in a tour that I would have been proud to have delivered. It was an artful balance of informed historical narrative with humour infused in a charming delivery... We are anxious to return to Chester and share this experience with our friends and family. I am confident each new tour will take on its own unique character as it suits the interests of those who participate".
Caroline & Tom Worthy, Kingston, Ontario, Canada May 2009

In business in Chester? Help support us and do yourself a favour at the same time: advertise to the world on this website!

Get what you deserve! 'GoodHiding'- fine leather products handmade in Chester.

"Dear Sir, as a student of old London and the British Empire, I applaud your website! It far exceeds any I have seen, and I pour over it constantly. If I am not careful, hours will dwindle away until something interrupts me!
As a entertainer, I have plenty of time to explore your site, and I wanted to take the time to "Thank You" for all your hard work and let you know how much I enjoy it! BRAVO Sir and keep up the great work!
Best Regards,
Dan Rocco, Chicago USA, 8th April 2009 www.DanRoccoMusic.com/new_landing.htm

"My very sincere congratulations on the development and presentation of your fantastically outstanding web site. For the last four hours, tears have stung my eyes at the sight of old familiar places that rekindled half forgotten emotions and memories both sad and happy. I have felt anger too at the vandalism of the developers, aided and abetted by councillors apparently, that have destroyed forever irreplaceable history in the name of progress and the accumulation of wealth. But I mustn’t get political; I really just wish to thank you for a most memorable afternoon, a time that I will no doubt repeat again and again in the future.
It has been thirty seven years since I said goodbye to Blighty, looking back from thirty thousand feet over the English Channel, and strangely since Christmas I have been tentatively formulating plans to return for a short holiday later this year. Deciding on doing a little research I logged onto Chester City Council and I discovered your truly great web site. Thank you".
Allan J Rimmer, Victoria Australia, 5th March 2006

"Hello, I'd just like to congratulate you on being the owner and author of the most wonderful site about Chester which I have encountered. It's bursting with information, images and enthusiasm and is incredibly detailed - fascinating and very useful!
I am a Chester resident myself- in Newton- and have long had an abiding affection for the city. Almost all my holidays have been (voluntarily!) taken within the UK and yet I always return to Chester. Your website reminds me why. It is a valuable resource - I've seen many Chester sites but none have come close.
Kate Fletcher, 29/3/05

"Hello to all who created this page and to those who visit it. Today I was feeling melancholic thinking about the time I spent in Chester, so I decided to find something about it in the web and which was my surprise that I found you. I love Chester even more than my own city, I spent lovely moments there, every winter I was anxiously waiting for summer to come to go to Chester; its roman walls, its fantastic walks all along the river, its roads, its pubs, its parks, its shops, its cinemas where I saw many films, the Cathedral so beautiful, its castle, The Northgate Arena swimming pool, The zoo the best in Europe, its history and architecture, its people…Chester is always busy, many visitors enjoy it during the year. I loved to walk around town and look at everyone while I was waiting for the bus. To those who are going to visit it I assure you l will enjoy it. It is a very beautiful romantic, historic and shopping place.
Thanks for the site, it is a perfect work,
Lola, Madrid, Spain, July 2003.

"Thank you! I studied the Virtual Stroll pages while flying across the Atlantic and you can only imagine how much your information helped me enjoy my first visit to Chester. Walking the wall made a wonderful afternoon primarily because of the history you shared. Really, there were MANY things in your papers that I appreciated. I can't imagine walking the wall without those tips. Thank you again!
Geoff Gould, El Dorado Hills, California USA, June 2002

"Your site is truly wonderful. You do the marvelous old city of Chester full justice with your telling of her tale. Thank you for all that!"
Eric Hall, Philadelphia USA (formerly of Liverpool), February 2007

"Our editors have selected your site as one of the best on the Internet when reviewed for quality, accuracy of content, presentation and usability... We know quality is always difficult to accomplish and maintain. Congratulations on being a selected member of the Britannica Internet Guide.
A virtual tour of the Roman and medieval city walls of Chester, England. Offers a detailed history, a description, drawings and photographs of the walls as well as of the buildings and sights of Chester that can be viewed from the walls. Highlights of the tour include the Cathedral, the Castle, the Roman Amphitheatre, and all the wall's gates. Designed for the armchair traveller or for the tourist who is planning a visit to Chester, A Virtual Stroll provides an elegant and engaging history of the city dating from Roman times to the present"
Encyclopaedia Britannica: February 2000

"Your website is wonderful. I have used it to answer various questions and just for interesting facts about the city. I and my colleagues have found it invaluable, very well organised and very easy to find information on it".
Chester Reference Library, Northgate Street Chester, May 2007

"An absolutely brilliant site about Chester and a sterling almost single-handed effort. Well deserving of funding (cos this is the sort of thing that attracts tourists, business etc)"
Review on the Chester Wiki

"This virtual strolling tour around the walls is beautifully photographed, the narration is detailed and interesting, and it doesn't shy away from some of Chester's darker sides. You will be hard pressed to find a more informative, or enjoyable, guide to the city and it's history."
Review on Chester City Council's 'Chester Portal'

The above is a 'contents' page to help you find you way around and plan your route. If you're looking for something specific, visiting our index (a work in progress!) first may help- or use Google at the bottom of the page to search either this site or the entire internet. New material is constantly being added- if you're a regular visitor, you may be viewing a page stored in your browser's cache, so it's worth occasionally hitting the 'reload' button...

Our site relies upon your contributions, corrections and constructive criticism to keep growing and to stay lively, informative and up-to-date. Your comments and questions are very welcome and will always receive a reply- as well as perhaps appearing on our lively reader's letters pages.